Sonic Boom Rock School is in full swing again with more awesome instrumental lessons and coaching and the most fun a kid can ever have…playing in a rock band! There will be plenty of places available if we open up Wednesday again, we just need a few more kids to sign up for this to happen. For those of you who are new to the school or have not yet experienced what we offer in SBRS, here is our basic info sheet. We are a music tuition and performance program designed to free up creative thinking in children from Grade 2 onwards. It’s a path of discovery between teacher and student and ultimately their whole family and the wider community.
Benefits
Learning opportunities are presented to the children in the form of 1:1 instrumental tuition or the rock band program and culminate in concert performances bi-annually (or more frequently if appropriate)
There are many peripheral and transferrable benefits from learning music, including:
- Development of non-verbal communication skills
- Increased activity in the area of the brain concerned with Mathematics & Language.
- Problem solving
- Improvement in social behaviour.
- Increased confidence based on skill acquisition, public speaking and performance experience
- Listening, at a deeper level
- Working precisely together as a team
- Mastery of skills / discipline
- Hand-eye coordination
- Meditative states and the ability to focus intensely for longer periods of time.
The whole school community benefits from the children having these experiences.
Private instrumental lessons go for about 25-30 minutes, and the students are picked up from their classroom by their music teacher, at a different time every week, so as to stagger the impact on any particular class subject or timeslot. It will usually be on the same day of the week though.
Available at every lesson are a variety of instruments for the children to explore. They include:
- Guitar
- Ukulele
- Bass Guitar
- Drums
- Piano/Keyboards
- Vocals
This is not a theory heavy program, but if a child shows a special interest in that side of music, we can teach them. It’s more about engaging kids in music in such a way that they hardly even notice how much they’re learning, until suddenly they can do amazing things. It’s a magical thing to witness and an important precursor to their later development. Once they are confident enough on their instrument, they can potentially join a band. Bands get to perform at the school rock concerts.
The Rock Band Program runs for 50 minutes, during the lunch hour on designated days of the week. The kids learn songs, with their music teacher often playing in the band too, with the aim of performing at the school assembly Rock Concert. All equipment is provided, but it helps if they have an instrument at home to practice on. It is loud…there’s no getting around that in a rock band. Please provide hearing protection (ear plugs), if needed, for sensitive ears.
The way the business side of it works is that you pay for blocks of 8 lessons credits at the start of the term. The number of weeks in the terms varies, but I find that multiples of 8 works well. You will be asked to pay for another block of 8 to top up the account whenever you run out, or in the case of the final term, just any extra lessons taken beyond the 8 that you’ve paid for.
You will not be charged for lessons missed due to student or teacher illness or school excursions. Any unused credits, at the end of the term, carry forward to the next term, or are refunded.
Private lessons | x 8 | @ $37 = | $296 |
Rock Band | x 8 | @ $32 = | $256 |
Special Combo | x 8 | (Band + Private) = | $500 |
There is NDIS funding available for any kids already involved in that system. All of my teaching staff hold a current WWCC, and are amazing, working musicians with an embodied understanding of music and the music industry. They are great mentors and care deeply about your child’s experience being a positive one.
To sign your child up please send me an email with your child’s full name, classroom number, instrument to start with and your contact mobile and email. I’ll send an email back with all the final details.
First in first served…and we fill up quickly, so be proactive!
Tim Hulsman